Stones from Ibarra - Harriet Doerr

Last night our book club met to discuss "Stones from Ibarra" then the one hour drive home took over two as we had to drive through a winter wonderland of blowing snow. There were a couple of times that the semi trucks seemed to be barreling straight at us on 61 and I had to close my eyes as we were forced way over to the edge of the road. It was kinda scary. By midnight I was home and anxious to jump in to my new book "Loving Frank" which has grabbed me from the first page with the Goethe quote - "One Lives but onces in the world".

But, back to "Stones from Ibarra". It is a first novel for a 73 year old woman who also graduated from college at about the same age. It's a bit autobiographical as she lived in Mexico and her husband died from a blood disease, similar to Richard, the husband in the book. Her writing is beautiful and descriptive, but the book was a little disjointed as it's a series of short stories that the author attemps to weave together. It did win a national book award and Harriet Doerr (author) does manage to give a very charming picture of life in a poor Mexican village. One thing I really liked about the book was she never gives a 'moral of the story' as she describes certain behaviors and things that happen. She just leaves them laying there for you to decipher. I asked the married women at the book club what they thought of the two main characters as 'husband and wife' because some of their behaviour seemed peculiar to me. For instance, the main character Sara is always making up things or using her imagination to round out a story which is annoying to her husband. Since they were living in a small village without electricity - hence, no tv, radio - I saw it as entertaining storytelling. You never really know, but some of the married women thought it was because the husband wanted her to be grounded in reality and face that he was going to die. There was nothing concrete about the ending, no wrapping up of loose ends and no bookclub discussion questions in the back of the book so it honestly made for a really great discussion with our group.

I LOVE three day weekends!

The possibilities are endless and the plans are few. The perfect storm of a holiday weekend. I've started an online photography class to learn how to use my Nikon D80 SLR camera and I'm ready to get started on the first lesson. I've realized after owning this camera for over a year that I have no clue how to really use it and my pictures suck. I took better pictures with a point and shoot camera, but I've always wanted to do more.

This week I'm listening to John Hiatt - Same Old Man. I went to his concert at the Pantages last Saturday night and loved his show. I'm not sure how I've gone through my whole life without knowing this singer...he's folk, he's John Prine like, he's a singer, songwriter, story-teller like my uncles. He had me at hello.

This week I'm reading 'Queen of Fashion" a frock by frock account of the French Revolution and Marie Antoinette. It's very detailed and quite long so it will take a while to get to the bloody revolution part, but it's well written and engaging. I recently saw a documentary on public tv about her and wanted to learn more. We all know the shocking ending, but I really wanted to understand what led up to that. The brutality and hatred is mind boggling even by todays standards. Good 4th of July reading, don't ya think?

What I've been reading...

The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton (current)
The Photograph, Penelope Lively (August 2008)
The Secret Lives of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd (July 2008)
I Was Told There Would Be Cake, Sloane Crosley (June 2008)
March, Geraldine Brooks (March 2008) The story of "Little Women" told from the dad's perspective.
Egonomics (current) Leadership book...interesting concepts about our ever present 'ego'.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See (March 2008)
Orxy and Crake, Margaret Atwood (Feb 2008) One of my ALL time favorites!
Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (Feb 2008) Loved it!
Under a Flaming Sky, Daniel Brown (Jan 2008) - MN history - Hinckley fires in the 1800's.
Into the Wild (December 2007)
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky (December 2007)
I Feel Bad About My Neck, Nora Ephran (December 2007)
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson (December 2007) Life changing...a must read!
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (current) Buddhism 101 - entertaining
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides (never finished) Gave up - couldn't get through it...strange.
My Sister's Keeper, Jody Picolt (September 07)
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen (September 07) A must read...great history of the circus and fascinating love story...don't miss it!
Tortilla Flats, John Steinbeck (August 07)
Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan (July 07) I love ready Amy Tan and this is a new favorite!
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien (June 07) Fun to go on a journey with Bilbo Baggins
Cannary Row, John Steinbeck (May 07)
The Optimist's Daughter (April 07)
Cash by Johnny Cash (March 07)
Running with Scissors (March 07) Hysterical and strange!
High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (Feb 07) Excellent book - couldn't put it down, great music references.
Tiz, Frank McCourt(Feb 07)
Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (Jan 07) Completely unforgetable...hard to read, but beautiful.
Plain Truth, Jodi Picolt (Feb 07)
Good to Great (Feb 07) Leadership book - get the right ppl on the bus and define reality.
Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards (Dec 06) Who could forget Phoebie and Nora!

Old favorites...(books)

"House of Mirth" - "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth," warns Ecclesiastes 7:4, and so does the novel by Edith Wharton that takes its title from this call to heed.

Also love "Jane Eyre" and "Scarlet Letter".

Love Lily, Jane and Hester!

I should add Jo March too. What little girl that read Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" didn't want to be her?